As the Internet becomes increasingly popular, search engines are becoming more competitive in an effort to gain a share in the web-search market. Typically, a search engine makes money from advertising. Users enjoy the ability to easily search and locate web content, and advertisers can strategically place advertisements—e.g., a sponsored search result, banner ad, etc. Increasing web traffic to the search engine benefits advertisers by providing exposure to their advertisements. The more traffic a search engine can attract, the more valuable their advertising space becomes.
Many search engines draw attention to specific terms in a web page using specific tags, called “SmartTags.” For example, suppose a document on the web describes a company's recent financial performance. Key terms in the document, such as the company's name, stock symbol, or products could be highlighted using a visual clue (e.g., a squiggly underline). When the user clicks on the highlighted terms, conventional search engines typically issue a search query and the results therefrom are displayed in a pop-up window. Or the user may alternatively be redirected to a regular search-results page. Only words or phrases that appear in a web document are candidates for SmartTags, thus limiting the words to be highlighted to the words contained on the web page.
Similarly, many traditional search engines provide query suggestions (commonly referred to as “related searches”) in order to suggest keywords that may yield more precise search results to users. For instance, the user searching for the “cats” may be presented with related search terms, such as “tabby cats,” “dogs,” or “cat care.” Often, such suggestions are presented as hyperlinks, which, when selected, drive a new query to the search engine. Additionally, suggestions may appear in image searches, video searches, or on a No Results page.